Medical facilities like hospitals face many challenges, including accurately tracking patients and the medications administered to them. Typically, patients are provided with a plastic wristband when they are admitted to a medical facility which includes their identifying information, such as name and a hospital record identifier. Procedures for tracking patients and administering medications involve numerous checks of each patient's wristband by nurses and doctors throughout the day. While generally effective, this manual inspection of wristbands can be inefficient and is prone to human error.
Another challenge facing hospitals involves the integration of new medical sensor technology and the associated volume of medical sensor data with patients' medical records and the hospital's information system infrastructure. With the continued miniaturization of electronic components it is anticipated that the medical industry will deploy ever smaller electronic medical sensors which can be placed on or within a patient to record and report any of variety of medically important parameters. Current methods for connecting medical sensors to patients use wires and cables stretching between the sensor on the patient and a monitoring system positioned nearby. As a result, a typical critical care patient may be attached to dozens of wires and tubes leading to medical monitoring systems. The resulting tangle of leads and tubes can interfere with the care provided to patients and lead to potential hazards.